Town council votes against fracking in Westhoughton

ATTEMPTS to carry out fracking in Westhoughton will be opposed by its town council.

Westhoughton Town Council passed a motion opposing drilling into shale rock at a meeting last night.

Members also passed a motion urging the Lancashire Association of Local Councils (LALC) to ask central government to oppose the process.

The motion was put forward by Cllr Karen Lawrinson and Cllr Freda Henderson on behalf of the Labour group on Westhoughton Town Council

The motion stated: “This town council opposes changes to trespass laws in the Queen’s Speech which will allow companies involved in fracking to drill under homes without needing permission.

“We strongly believe we should be listening to the views of local people and the evidence in relation top health and safety and that out duty as a council is to protect the health and well-being of our residents and oppose fracking and coal bed extraction of methane gas in Westhoughton.”

Cllr Lawrinson added that her concern had been exacerbated by a site having been identified just over the border in Atherton.

She said: “The main concerns are the environmental damage which is irreplaceable.

“It has already been shown in Blackpool and other areas that earth tremors are caused by fracking.

“I do not think this is a risk we should be taking in our town and no amount of compensation can repair the damage that it causes.”

Members passed the motion, and the LALC will now be contacted with the proposal.

Fracking is the process of pumping water and chemicals in to shale rock deep underground to release methane gas, which can then be used as an energy source.

Cllr Lawrinson, Cllr Henderson and Cllr Kevan Jones will be attending the LALC’s annual general meeting on November 8 to represent the town council.

Excellent news. I'm pleased that the council has taken notice of what a disaster this will be for Westhoughton. I hope that the town council will now follow suit. There is now evidence that renewable energy can be provided cheaper than fossil fuels. The only people who will benefit from fracking are the energy companies. I for one am sick to death of David Cameron's unmoveable stance on this. The so called 'greenest government ever'...yeah, right. Well done Westhoughton council. Common sense does prevail!

What makes me sad is that the government could overrule this. It also makes me sad that the government is currently negotiating the Transatlantic Trade Agreement Partnership which could see the energy companies suing our government should they see common sense in the future and look more towards renewables and say no to fracking. If you don't know about the TTIP then please read up on it. It's dangerous and could undermine all of our democratic rights. http://www.waronwant
.org/campaigns/trade
-justice/more/inform
/18078-what-is-ttip

Excellent news. I'm pleased that the council has taken notice of what a disaster this will be for Westhoughton. I hope that the town council will now follow suit. There is now evidence that renewable energy can be provided cheaper than fossil fuels. The only people who will benefit from fracking are the energy companies. I for one am sick to death of David Cameron's unmoveable stance on this. The so called 'greenest government ever'...yeah, right. Well done Westhoughton council. Common sense does prevail!
What makes me sad is that the government could overrule this. It also makes me sad that the government is currently negotiating the Transatlantic Trade Agreement Partnership which could see the energy companies suing our government should they see common sense in the future and look more towards renewables and say no to fracking. If you don't know about the TTIP then please read up on it. It's dangerous and could undermine all of our democratic rights. http://www.waronwant
.org/campaigns/trade
-justice/more/inform
/18078-what-is-ttiplassogaia

Didn't know there was any land in Westhoughton left to do fracking all I see is that any bit of land left in Westhoughton is ear marked for development of houses and that land is about the size of a postage stamp in the term of things but I'm sure if the council are offered money they will sell the residents of Westhoughton right down the river as any other area in the Bolton council borough as long as its not near them

Didn't know there was any land in Westhoughton left to do fracking all I see is that any bit of land left in Westhoughton is ear marked for development of houses and that land is about the size of a postage stamp in the term of things but I'm sure if the council are offered money they will sell the residents of Westhoughton right down the river as any other area in the Bolton council borough as long as its not near themstylish

What ever could create long lasting jobs Bolton council don't approve of. They must think the future of Bolton should be built on supermarkets and take always. Build some more flats in old mills instead of attracting more warehousing to co inside with logistics north.

What ever could create long lasting jobs Bolton council don't approve of. They must think the future of Bolton should be built on supermarkets and take always. Build some more flats in old mills instead of attracting more warehousing to co inside with logistics north.mickbolton90

Uk Govs past and more so present have been selling there folk down the river when it comes to northern folk.as long as all the dosh goes south its ok.there should be two governments North n South.makes sense

Uk Govs past and more so present have been selling there folk down the river when it comes to northern folk.as long as all the dosh goes south its ok.there should be two governments North n South.makes senseartistpaint

mickbolton90 wrote:
What ever could create long lasting jobs Bolton council don't approve of. They must think the future of Bolton should be built on supermarkets and take always. Build some more flats in old mills instead of attracting more warehousing to co inside with logistics north.

Fracking will not create long lasting jobs. This is a myth. What we need is climate jobs, renewable energy jobs etc.

[quote][p][bold]mickbolton90[/bold] wrote:
What ever could create long lasting jobs Bolton council don't approve of. They must think the future of Bolton should be built on supermarkets and take always. Build some more flats in old mills instead of attracting more warehousing to co inside with logistics north.[/p][/quote]Fracking will not create long lasting jobs. This is a myth. What we need is climate jobs, renewable energy jobs etc.lassogaia

mickbolton90 wrote:
What ever could create long lasting jobs Bolton council don't approve of. They must think the future of Bolton should be built on supermarkets and take always. Build some more flats in old mills instead of attracting more warehousing to co inside with logistics north.

Fracking will not create long lasting jobs. This is a myth. What we need is climate jobs, renewable energy jobs etc.

We will never know because we won't have It. I suppose rrenewable energy and jobs could be created from the amount of resovours that are in our region

[quote][p][bold]lassogaia[/bold] wrote:
[quote][p][bold]mickbolton90[/bold] wrote:
What ever could create long lasting jobs Bolton council don't approve of. They must think the future of Bolton should be built on supermarkets and take always. Build some more flats in old mills instead of attracting more warehousing to co inside with logistics north.[/p][/quote]Fracking will not create long lasting jobs. This is a myth. What we need is climate jobs, renewable energy jobs etc.[/p][/quote]We will never know because we won't have It. I suppose rrenewable energy and jobs could be created from the amount of resovours that are in our regionmickbolton90

mickbolton90 wrote:
What ever could create long lasting jobs Bolton council don't approve of. They must think the future of Bolton should be built on supermarkets and take always. Build some more flats in old mills instead of attracting more warehousing to co inside with logistics north.

Fracking will not create long lasting jobs. This is a myth. What we need is climate jobs, renewable energy jobs etc.

We will never know because we won't have It. I suppose rrenewable energy and jobs could be created from the amount of resovours that are in our region

I lived in the states, fracking neither increased long-term full time employment nor did it bring the gas bills down. All fracking did was pollute land, air and water... made drinking water wells unsafe and heaped misery on residents of towns from structural damage of property due to quakes.

As a result the French saw fit to ban fracking but the twonks want to come here and frack.

They can frack-off...

[quote][p][bold]mickbolton90[/bold] wrote:
[quote][p][bold]lassogaia[/bold] wrote:
[quote][p][bold]mickbolton90[/bold] wrote:
What ever could create long lasting jobs Bolton council don't approve of. They must think the future of Bolton should be built on supermarkets and take always. Build some more flats in old mills instead of attracting more warehousing to co inside with logistics north.[/p][/quote]Fracking will not create long lasting jobs. This is a myth. What we need is climate jobs, renewable energy jobs etc.[/p][/quote]We will never know because we won't have It. I suppose rrenewable energy and jobs could be created from the amount of resovours that are in our region[/p][/quote]I lived in the states, fracking neither increased long-term full time employment nor did it bring the gas bills down. All fracking did was pollute land, air and water... made drinking water wells unsafe and heaped misery on residents of towns from structural damage of property due to quakes.
As a result the French saw fit to ban fracking but the twonks want to come here and frack.
They can frack-off...Beyond News Forum

Go GREEN instead... we have the technology to produce free energy for all. The corporations do not want you all to have free energy. It is all about tax, lobby cash and profits for shareholders and fat-cats.

Next time someone offers you free solar panel, next time you get the chance at erecting a wind turbine... take them on... that is how you bring your energy costs down, not via expensive and harmful exploitation of natural resources.

I cannot make the above any clearer... OPPOSE FRACKING.
Go GREEN instead... we have the technology to produce free energy for all. The corporations do not want you all to have free energy. It is all about tax, lobby cash and profits for shareholders and fat-cats.
Next time someone offers you free solar panel, next time you get the chance at erecting a wind turbine... take them on... that is how you bring your energy costs down, not via expensive and harmful exploitation of natural resources.Beyond News Forum

Just a quick reminder to all the sandal wearing "anti everything normal" protestors --- The Earth is round and the Moon isn't made of cheese.

Frack on is what I say, until there are proper studies about the good or bad about this which we can all understand, and not some University funded paper from America which is 20yrs out of date.

Just a quick reminder to all the sandal wearing "anti everything normal" protestors --- The Earth is round and the Moon isn't made of cheese.
Frack on is what I say, until there are proper studies about the good or bad about this which we can all understand, and not some University funded paper from America which is 20yrs out of date.Harkin about

Love the title photo of a nodding donkey! These quaint contraptions are not used for shale fracking! A photo of a 1 hectare concrete pad with dozens of compressor lorries, a huge industrial drill, burn-off tower, holding tanks and 24/7 lights would be more correct.

Love the title photo of a nodding donkey! These quaint contraptions are not used for shale fracking! A photo of a 1 hectare concrete pad with dozens of compressor lorries, a huge industrial drill, burn-off tower, holding tanks and 24/7 lights would be more correct.ModelCitizen

Well done Westie...but at the end of the day its common bloody sense. Not only are there at least a handful of peer reviewed studies proving that living in a frackfield causes all sorts of human and livestock health problems theres also a ton of extremely concerning anecdotal evidence...certainly enough for the precautionary principle to be applied..certainly enough for our country to at the very least send teams of academics over to the frackfields of the USA to find out. I consider anyone thats currently rabidly cheerleading for fracking to go ahead like our foul corrupt government to be guilty of reckless endangerment.

Regardless of that fracking has a fully recorded history of poisoning ground and surface water, earthquakes, drilling/transport accidents, spikes in RTA's and if THAT wasn't enough your property value is going to nose dive if a fracking rig suddenly happens along at the bottom of your garden.

The idiots that came up with the ridiculous idea of fracking England must have been completely blinded by the money and driven half deluded. The whole thing is completely ill conceived. It doesn't really matter though, us English folk will stop it, especially us Lancastrians, we really aren't that dumb or roll over that easily

Well done Westie...but at the end of the day its common bloody sense. Not only are there at least a handful of peer reviewed studies proving that living in a frackfield causes all sorts of human and livestock health problems theres also a ton of extremely concerning anecdotal evidence...certainly enough for the precautionary principle to be applied..certainly enough for our country to at the very least send teams of academics over to the frackfields of the USA to find out. I consider anyone thats currently rabidly cheerleading for fracking to go ahead like our foul corrupt government to be guilty of reckless endangerment.
Regardless of that fracking has a fully recorded history of poisoning ground and surface water, earthquakes, drilling/transport accidents, spikes in RTA's and if THAT wasn't enough your property value is going to nose dive if a fracking rig suddenly happens along at the bottom of your garden.
The idiots that came up with the ridiculous idea of fracking England must have been completely blinded by the money and driven half deluded. The whole thing is completely ill conceived. It doesn't really matter though, us English folk will stop it, especially us Lancastrians, we really aren't that dumb or roll over that easilydeBauch

artistpaint wrote:
Uk Govs past and more so present have been selling there folk down the river when it comes to northern folk.as long as all the dosh goes south its ok.there should be two governments North n South.makes sense

This is whats currently blowing me away. We've got Lancastrians on the Fylde cheerleading for a corrupt Southern Tory govt to rape their own land, fill their pockets and leave them with a clean up bill that could be in the multiple millions when all of the fracking well casings fail.

Its so obviously a massive case of privatised profits and socialised risk but they're all bending over begging for it lol I just don't get it?!?

[quote][p][bold]artistpaint[/bold] wrote:
Uk Govs past and more so present have been selling there folk down the river when it comes to northern folk.as long as all the dosh goes south its ok.there should be two governments North n South.makes sense[/p][/quote]This is whats currently blowing me away. We've got Lancastrians on the Fylde cheerleading for a corrupt Southern Tory govt to rape their own land, fill their pockets and leave them with a clean up bill that could be in the multiple millions when all of the fracking well casings fail.
Its so obviously a massive case of privatised profits and socialised risk but they're all bending over begging for it lol I just don't get it?!?deBauch

artistpaint wrote:
Uk Govs past and more so present have been selling there folk down the river when it comes to northern folk.as long as all the dosh goes south its ok.there should be two governments North n South.makes sense

[quote][p][bold]artistpaint[/bold] wrote:
Uk Govs past and more so present have been selling there folk down the river when it comes to northern folk.as long as all the dosh goes south its ok.there should be two governments North n South.makes sense[/p][/quote]1 Million Climate Jobs Now...look it up. We're steamrollering towards catastrophic climate meltdown so digging up even more fossil fuel to burn ain't too bright I figuredeBauch

mickbolton90 wrote:
What ever could create long lasting jobs Bolton council don't approve of. They must think the future of Bolton should be built on supermarkets and take always. Build some more flats in old mills instead of attracting more warehousing to co inside with logistics north.

Fracking will not create long lasting jobs. This is a myth. What we need is climate jobs, renewable energy jobs etc.

We will never know because we won't have It. I suppose rrenewable energy and jobs could be created from the amount of resovours that are in our region

I lived in the states, fracking neither increased long-term full time employment nor did it bring the gas bills down. All fracking did was pollute land, air and water... made drinking water wells unsafe and heaped misery on residents of towns from structural damage of property due to quakes.

As a result the French saw fit to ban fracking but the twonks want to come here and frack.

They can frack-off...

This is the deranged thing...folk can easily check out what frackings done elsewhere and they STILL thinks its a great idea lol

[quote][p][bold]Beyond News Forum[/bold] wrote:
[quote][p][bold]mickbolton90[/bold] wrote:
[quote][p][bold]lassogaia[/bold] wrote:
[quote][p][bold]mickbolton90[/bold] wrote:
What ever could create long lasting jobs Bolton council don't approve of. They must think the future of Bolton should be built on supermarkets and take always. Build some more flats in old mills instead of attracting more warehousing to co inside with logistics north.[/p][/quote]Fracking will not create long lasting jobs. This is a myth. What we need is climate jobs, renewable energy jobs etc.[/p][/quote]We will never know because we won't have It. I suppose rrenewable energy and jobs could be created from the amount of resovours that are in our region[/p][/quote]I lived in the states, fracking neither increased long-term full time employment nor did it bring the gas bills down. All fracking did was pollute land, air and water... made drinking water wells unsafe and heaped misery on residents of towns from structural damage of property due to quakes.
As a result the French saw fit to ban fracking but the twonks want to come here and frack.
They can frack-off...[/p][/quote]This is the deranged thing...folk can easily check out what frackings done elsewhere and they STILL thinks its a great idea loldeBauch

Harkin about wrote:
Just a quick reminder to all the sandal wearing &quot;anti everything normal" protestors --- The Earth is round and the Moon isn't made of cheese.

Frack on is what I say, until there are proper studies about the good or bad about this which we can all understand, and not some University funded paper from America which is 20yrs out of date.

Bright lol So you're saying frack on even if your not sure if its dangerous to human health lol

There's a ton of studies and anecdotal evidence that show thats its harmful to human life, harmful to unborn babies and harmful to livestock and yet you're quite happy to have fracking rigs slapped next to schools and family homes

My, don't some folk play loose with other peoples lives

[quote][p][bold]Harkin about[/bold] wrote:
Just a quick reminder to all the sandal wearing "anti everything normal" protestors --- The Earth is round and the Moon isn't made of cheese.
Frack on is what I say, until there are proper studies about the good or bad about this which we can all understand, and not some University funded paper from America which is 20yrs out of date.[/p][/quote]Bright lol So you're saying frack on even if your not sure if its dangerous to human health lol
There's a ton of studies and anecdotal evidence that show thats its harmful to human life, harmful to unborn babies and harmful to livestock and yet you're quite happy to have fracking rigs slapped next to schools and family homes
My, don't some folk play loose with other peoples livesdeBauch